Author note: sorry about the crazy variation in length of some of these chapters!

I woke up to Mato seated on one side, and Jacy on the other. The world was moving in slow motion at first, as if I had been asleep for a long time. My mind was registering images after my eyes had moved on from them. I was in the hospital wing, the smell of herbs and tonics meeting me. I felt dizzy and out of control, I felt like I was dreaming. After a few minutes my mind caught up to my eyes.

When I could focus, the boys were on their feet, and when I had rubbed my eyes to restore my sight I knew that Leanne had been right. Mato's eyebrows were raised and his mouth down turned in shock and concern. Jacy had a stern look although he blamed himself.

"What...happened...?" I whispered.

"Something was calling you, into the forest." Jacy said, his voice low and with unease.

"Professor Dumbledore was able to stop you." Mato said with a gentleness I did not remember him having before.

"We've informed The First Minister, who wants daily updates until your task is done."

"Task?" I began to sit up in bed, this conversation merited some more concentration but my elbow buckled under me and I fell, chin hanging off the bedside. I blinked feverishly, and suddenly there was laughter. I looked up, craning my eyes into the corners, eyebrows stitched together, unable to lift myself to see Mato holding his sides and laughing.

It took a moment but Jacy joined in, "That's enough you two!", which changed into, "Alight, guys…come on…" But they didn't stop, my frown furrowing deep into the pores of my skin as they carried on until Madam Pomfrey chided them for their volume.

Eventually they set me back upright and I managed to use wind to cross my arms. They said I looked like a confused puppy, who had just fallen down the stairs and was vengeful about it. I glared at them. But before I could say anything more the Headmaster joined us.

"Still don't have your strength back yet, I presume?"

"Apparently not..." the boys snickered slightly.

The headmaster smiled a gentle smile between us before continuing, "I believe we understand what has happened to you."

The snickering stopped and the air got still, we waited for him to continue but he only blinked for a long time. He fiddled with the bar at the end of the bed, and walked over to the side, and then he turned and looked as if he was going to speak but stopped himself. He smiled again and walked back towards the door.

"It is rare for someone to be invited by them. It is rarer still for someone who is not from this place to be invited." He sat at the end of the bed, looking directly at me from above his eye glasses, his chin tilted down. "What ever it is that they need, I am afraid that the next time they come to you, we will not be able to stop them."

I let all the air out of my lungs. I felt the front of my rib cage deflate, and I paused before intaking breath again, and asked firmly, "Who do you speak of, Headmaster?" Speaking with the authoritative tone and vocabulary I had been taught, but without the arrogance I would have spoken to anyone else.

"The Unicorns." How his eyes sparkled, "Which is why," and he stood brushing his robes downwards, "The Minister for Magic will be here in the morning to discuss with you what we should do."

At first my heart stopped, and I could feel the skin around my chest start rise and tingle, energy flowing to my chest. Unicorns? This was every little magical girl's dream, I wanted to ask a million questions. I wanted to know all that the Headmaster knew, I wanted so much, that my chest was tightening with all the questions kept inside. Then I remembered that the First Minster was not worried. She had called it a 'task'. I nodded slowly, seeing that this was now diplomatic in nature; and I couldn't lift my own arms.

"Madam Pomfrey has assured me that you will be right as rain by tomorrow morning, and I have already excused you from your Charms class to see him. I suggest we tell all who ask that you left the Hospital Wing in time for your Defence Against The Dark Arts class, and not mention Mr. Fudge."

I nodded again gravely, turning my head slowly to the side. The dream shattered and in its place grew an emptiness.

"I'll give you a few more minutes before I escort you boys to your common rooms." He said to Jacy and Mato before walking to talk to Madam Pomfrey.

I looked to them, both on the same side of the bed now. I nodded to them.

"Are you okay?" Jacy asked, and I nodded, "Do you need anything before we go?" I shook my head.

"You'll do fine." Mato assured voice caught me off guard.

I looked up to him, "I'd like to have some time with you tomorrow, Mato."

He straightened up and nodded to me as well, but before he could respond I added, "More than to and from the meeting."

"If you wish it, it will be done." And my heart sunk.

"No, no… I…" and I let my voice trail off and then I felt a hand on my head. I didn't try to look up, and I didn't try to move. I let it rustle my hair and I let it put slight weight on me. It was warm.

"Alright. I'll meet you tomorrow, El. Don't put so much weight on it." And the hand left my head, sliding away before I saw them pass in front of my bed, "Good night." They both said, and all the strength I had was gone. I slid down and under the covers. I couldn't turn over, so the tears fell straight down my cheeks before veering to the sides. Madam Pomfrey eventually came, gave me a nasty tonic and positioned me so I would sleep better. She blew out the candles, and turned down the lanterns before turning to her chamber to sleep.

"Good night Hermione," I whispered out to the darkness.

"Good night Ellie." The darkness whispered back.

"Good night Justin." I whispered into my bedsheets before closing my eyes and letting the darkness overtake me.

I had met Cornelius Fudge before. He was shaky, nervous man who sweated a lot. He seems cumbersome in my opinion and while I didn't particularly like him, if I wanted to maintain relations with the United Kingdom, this is where it would start. Another part of my duties as Seneschal was to act as a diplomatic pawn, allowing myself to flex my arm for my country while maintaining distance from the actual government and simultaneously fixing situations to their favour. 'Scapegoat' didn't begin to cover it.

The tonic from the night before worked it's magic and the next morning I was delighted to find I had turned over in my sleep and was able to raise myself up, get dressed and reached back to do my hair with little trouble. So when it came time to meet the Minister, Madam Pomfrey and I waited until the first class began and then she escorted me to the gargoyle statue on the 7th floor, said our "Sherbet Lemon" and entered.

Something was whirling in the corner of the office when we entered, over by an arched window, out looking the grounds. It was like a globe, but also like Saturn, surrounded by multiple moving rings. Sometimes the rings were parallel and sometimes they intersected. On the sphere itself, colours and shapes moved across the surface. I had no idea what it was for, but I knew that I could have stared at it for hours.

"Ah, Your Grace, you haven't had time for breakfast, I'm certain." The Headmaster called from his loft quarters. He descended the intricate golden, round staircase as gracefully as I wish I could have. His robes were mostly red and blue today, marked by gold embroidery along the hems and distinct energy of charms.

I smiled and curtsied to him, "I'm afraid not Headmaster, and I'm completely famished."

He smiled at me from behind his desk and his half moon glasses before ringing a bell and breakfast appearing before us on simple plates and silver forks. Fawkes was cooing at the smell, his feathers coming in nicely.

"Your phoenix has molted, congratulations." I gestured before sitting precariously across from him. The chairs were Rococo style, ornate and yet their cushions were some of the finest I had seen or felt.

"Yes, yes he transformed the night of Justin and Sir Nicholas' attack. Gave Mr. Potter quite the shock. He blamed himself initially."

"Mr. Potter was raised by Sans-magie, it is to be expected that he has much to learn." I took an egg and placed it on the egg cup before and began to peel it with a small silver spoon.

"I've come to learn that Miss Granger has joined the ranks of secret keepers."

I set down the spoon, and looked up at him with what I was hoping was confidence, "Yes, blood oath and all. It is relieving to have someone who knows exactly what is going on. It's become apparent to me that this journey may end up being more than I bargained for."

He nodded solemnly, "You can always choose to not enrol in the next year..." he suggested lightly.

I smiled at him from behind a goblet I held with both hands, "I wouldn't trade the difficulty I may endure for all the ease in the world, Headmaster."

He plopped the last of his egg into his mouth with a jolly 'pop!' sound and it made me smile. "I'm afraid our guest is late."

"All the better to enjoy a slow breakfast," I spread orange marmalade over a slice of toast and poured myself and the Headmaster a cup of tea. He added two sugar cubes and a spot of milk while I only added one. I was excited to be able to scoop my sugar instead of having an entire cube of it every morning.

By the time the minister had arrived we had cleaned breakfast, finished our tea and popped breath mints.

"Forgive my tardiness, it has been a trying morning." He bustled in like a small storm. The Headmaster called for more tea and he levitated it over to some chairs he had near a particularly old bookcase and the arched window.

"Think nothing of it Cornelius, we were just enjoying breakfast after a particularly trying day yesterday. He smiled patiently while the Minister was prying his neck scarf from himself and he turned to see me already seated awaiting him.

"Oh Your Grace, do forgive me." He came to me, I reached out my hand as I was now accustomed to, and he took it in both of his, bowing slightly as he did.

"There is nothing to forgive Minister, but I did have plans to rejoin classes today, so if we may proceed with haste." The vocabulary threw people sometimes. I was taught the particular speech patterns I would need when I was fully crowned, so for it to come out of the mouth of a thirteen year old girl, meant many were confused.

"Of course, of course!" He finally managed to get his scarf off of his neck, and the buttons of his jacket undone.

When he was finally seated, tea had been served, manicured and each of us had a sip, he set down his porcelain cup upon it's saucer on the table and put both his hands on his knees. He was wearing black wool pants, a dark collared shirt, a small Windsor knot tie at the nape of his neck and a jacket overtop in the same dark as his trousers. He wore slightly greenish robes over top, which he left hanging on the coat rack near the door.

"Now, Your Grace, I've heard you've made contact with the unicorns?"

I looked at him and blinked slowly, a delaying tactic, "I am unsure of who I've exactly come in contact with, although the Headmaster had a clearer head than I did, and I believe that is his assumption," I turned my attention on Professor Dumbledore, whom the light was illuminating in such a way that he glowed on one side, and the other was cast in darkness.

"It is." And he sipped ceremoniously from his cup.

My mind was blank, I blinked, staring at him. But apparently that was common place, and The Minister of Magic turned back to me with a nervous smile.

"In that case, we need to discuss how to move forward. Are you aware of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures?"

I set my tea cup down, "Minister, I have a vested interest in the Magical Creature community. Let alone that, Mr. Newt Scamander is one of my personal heroes."

"I see, well they would like me to express to you their vested interest in having you contact the unicorns." He did not waste time, but he also had a harshness to his tone.

"And they believe that I am able to be in contact with them, again?"

At this the Headmaster set his own cup down, to fill it again, but as he did he said, "No one has had spoken contact with the Unicorns in many, many years. If you can speak to them it may shine a light on their nature," adding as he lifted his cup to his lips, "Even Newt had a difficult time getting close to them."

"Correct, and so if you can contact them, we would be very interested in your findings."

I thought a long time, my cup raised to my lips, and I slowly moved my body, setting it down and placing my hands in my lap, "I will do what I can Minister, but I make no promises. I am hardly aware of what happened to me yesterday and may find it difficult to relay much of anything if the circumstances are the same."

"That is all that we ask." He slapped his knees, his smile beaming from ear to ear as he gathered up his robes, his scarf and himself in one fell swoop. "Now if you will excuse me, there are matters at the Ministry I must deal with." He nodded to me, "Your Grace," and then to the Headmaster, "Dumbledore."

"Cornelius." Albus Dumbledore nodded at him graciously, while I stood erect.

After he was gone, the Headmaster sat at his desk, and I looked out the window in the corner. Something was off about the meeting. I also wondered if meetings with old men was going to become like Sunday Tea for me.

"Was he all you expected?"

"Quite." I replied with a heavy sigh.

He set down his quill, I could hear it go into the stand, "Cornelius loves the power his office affords him. He also loves the peace we have endured since we acquired 'The Boy Who Lived'," he stood and came over to me, "But he is a good man, and he works for the betterment of us all."

I thought a long time before saying outwardly, "I feel that if I gave him a task, he would fail it in the most mundane way."

The Headmaster nodded gently, although I didn't look at him, "It seems you already have some sense about who to trust and who not to."

"I am not entirely sure I do, Headmaster." And I continued to gaze out the windows, thumbing the bracelet on my wrist, hoping to see something to take the edge off of the meeting.

"I do believe it is time for the next class, perhaps we can get you to your dorms to collect your books before your classmates."

I nodded and headed to the staircase but before I left, I peeked back to see Fawkes craning his youthful neck and cawing softly. I waved at him and then we descended, to greet the day.

By the time the Headmaster had gotten me to the common room, my classmates were already bustling trying to collect their copies of Lockhart's books, and when I finally crawled through the tunnel, the common room stopped.

I smiled up at everyone, before saying, "Everything is perfectly alright…" before they swarmed me like crows on a carcass, offering hugs and pats on the shoulder, the head and the back.

"What happened?"

"Are you alright?"

"Do you need anything?"

"Ellie, that was so scary!"

"What if it was the monster from the Chamber of Secrets?!"

"OK! THAT'S ENOUGH. BEST FRIEND COMING THROUGH!" And the crowd parted to let Ivy tackle me, wrapping her arms around my neck and I could feel the worry in the strength of her hug, "I was so scared…" I put my arms on her back and pulled her in more.

"Me too…me too… but it is alright now. It was Unicorns!" She shot up from my shoulder, and looked at me as if I had said it was a herd of heliopaths.

"You can't talk to Unicorns, can you?" Someone asked.

"People talk to animals all the time where I am from, it is not so strange." Catching Ernest's eye before he dashed them away. I smiled at the many faces around me and suddenly a voice travelled down the tunnel.

"I do hate breaking up a warm reunion, but you will be late for classes if you don't leave quickly!" The headmaster's clear instruction panicking some into dashing for the dorms.

"If we didn't have to bring every one of Lockhart's books due to him not knowing which we'll use in class, we wouldn't even BE here." Leanne complained to the open air.

In Lockhart's classroom the Gryffindors were already waiting, it seemed that Hufflepuffs perpetually moved at a slower pace. Luckily Lockhart was no where to be seen so Neville jumped up and ran over, questions tumbling out of his mouth with little sense and some stuttering.

I put both my hands on his shoulders, and he went quiet, "Unicorns. It was unicorns, who don't do anything evil, so it is alright. Perfectly alright." And his face softened, and a grin grew on him.

"Good…bloody good." And then Lockhart burst into the room with his usual pomp and circumstance, to which my face fell into one of disdain, making Neville laugh even after he had taken his seat next to Seamus.

The only place we could converse with people outside our houses was during meals and classes, I had missed my friends in other houses so much that I would often swallow my meals as quick as I could before taking seat at Gryffindor table. Neville seemed more at home than he had at the beginning of the year so I would often leave him to chat with the other boys from his year, Dean, Seamus, Harry and Ron. They all seemed relatively close. With this in mind I would head to Fred and George to chat, usually interrupting them having a conversation with Lee Jordan. He didn't seem to like me very much, but I tried to observe more and listen rather than to speak.

"Well, what if we convinced Peeves to…"

"Nah, that would never work…"

"I don't want to try and get caught by Filch again," Lee shivered, "I don't want to clean the bloody trophy room for the umpteenth time."

Fred turned to me "You see, we are stuck limiting our expertise to the common room,"

"Or our dorms," George added.

Fred nodded, "And let's face it, you can't make too many enemies where you sleep."

"So we need a new target on…"

"Don't tell her! This is our plan fellas." Lee shook his head and threw his hands up.

I too put my hands up in defeat, "I don't want to take away from your bonding!"

"Alright then…" Fred disgruntled, but undeterred for conversation continued, "So any word from our silver friends? Or should I say your silver friends?"

I shook my head, sending my braid shifting from shoulder to shoulder, "Not yet…I hope they actually do try to get into contact again, I would love to see a unicorn."

"Be careful of those horns though, they can impale a man, I've heard." Lee teased.

"They're unicorns mate, they aren't going to hurt her." Fred rolled his eyes.

The conversation did little to scare me but had me pondering over the double History lesson why exactly they were trying to lure me into the forest. Unicorns were known to be extremely magical creatures, their hair, horn and blood having magical properties, but there was so much that was unknown about them. In Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, there was less than a page written about them.

I was tapping the quill the First Minister had given me for my birthday on my History of Magic textbook when someone walked up to me. I didn't realise they were there, and continued to tap, thinking deeply on what exactly it was that I was meant to do with the Unicorns, or what I could do.

"Did you like it?"

The voice entered my head like a dream, and I responded as I had been taught, "Oh yes, very much so…" then turned my head to see Draco Malfoy standing next to me. My face instantly turned red, and I could hardly do anything but blink at him. He looked perplexed. I drew air into my lungs, and my whole chest seemed to lift, my shoulders nearly reaching my ears before I blurted out, "Yes, yes, it's v-v-v-ery beautiful, thank-you."

I had completely forgotten about the note I was supposed to send, precisely to avoid this conversation. I could hear the other girls come to the realisation behind me with gasps of air and little giggles. When Draco heard this a little red came to his cheeks and he turned away.

"I've never given a gift to a girl before, so I wasn't sure…about what to give."

I shot up out of my seat, and tried to rectify the situation by throwing my left wrist up between us, which made him step back out of suddenness. My robe sleeve slipped below my elbow, and the bracelet was glimmering slightly lower than my wrist. "See, I've been wearing it since I opened it." My face was on fire.

"G-Good." He said as he stepped back another pace before pulling his sweater down, "I'm glad you like it."

"And the gloves? Do they fit?" I asked, readjusting my robes as well.

He nodded, "Nicely. Thank you."

"Oh, Ellie, let's get going to Transfiguration, we don't want to be late!" Ivy called grinning generously as the gaggle of girls stood whispering to each other near the door.

"I… have to get going…"

"Me too…"

"Well, see you then…" and I grabbed my quill and left as quick as my feet would allow.

When we were all seated for transfiguration and the girls had all had time to relay to their Ravenclaw friends what had exactly happened, Padma sat beside me, "So did you send the note?"

I groaned loudly and put my head on my desk and dragged my hands over my face as little giggles were heard behind me.

Transfiguration finished and I wanted to run to the common room to roll in my bedsheets and try to forget the day's events. Especially since I didn't have the unicorn call to distract me, but I was accosted by Mato as we all entered the hall.

"Can we talk after dinner? Maybe at whichever table is less occupied?" I nodded, silently pushing my shame rolling to later in the evening schedule.

"I can't believe it was Draco, of all the people, no wonder you wanted to hide it!" Hannah was elated at the news.

"I didn't even realise that you exchanged gifts with him," Ivy added.

I waited a moment to answer by starting with, "Well, you know…" and grabbing at some of the roast beef and potatoes, "…Our families they are becoming more… known to each other. I don't think it is avoidable…entirely."

"You don't have to encourage it," Wayne added while filling his goblet with water.

I put my hands up and out in front of me, "I was taught to give gifts to all you know, and not to expect anything out of it. He was my tutor, and he was very helpful…"

"Alright, alright, we get it," Leanne added, "We'll say no more about it. We were only teasing anyways." She tilted her head with a smile.

I felt lighter, when Hannah leaned into the table and said, "It is rather extravagant, isn't it though?" With subtle excitement.

The girls all looked from one to another, and I put up my wrist to the candle light, and turned it slightly, then looked to each face with a bit of mischief, and shrugged one shoulder. I caught my smile in my teeth, trying to put it back in with a slide of my tongue as I looked to my plate. It seemed like all the girls were trying to do the same, but when we met another's eye we could hardly stop ourselves.

Author's Note: The next one is heaaavy! Also I really miss DOUBLE LINE BREAKS, if anyone has tips let me in on them.